What is the optimum volume rate of the Japanese milk bread? What are windowpane and finger dent test? This post covers lots of tips and visuals to help you make the perfect milk bread using a stand mixer and a bread maker!
Back in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), bread was introduced by a Portuguese missionary in Japan. But it wasn’t widely popular until Meiji era when Japan was under the wave of westernization. Although rice has been always a staple food for centuries in Japan, the consumption of bread has increased in recent years. In 2011, according to the government’s survey, the purchase of bread per household has surpassed rice for the first time.
After learning how to make the whole wheat milk bread, I got obsessed with Japanese bread making and especially love to make this plain white bread (食パン). My older son couldn’t get enough of it! This staple food can be found in Asian bakeries. The bread comes in either square or mountain shape. Unlike American sandwiches, most Japanese bakeries would remove the crust to make either savory or confectionery sandwiches, such as fresh fruit sandwiches with whipped cream filling.
Although the Japanese bread is very similar to pain de mie, its unique shaping methods and fluffy texture make it different from other white bread. There’re many little details and techniques to be paid attention to when making the bread. I am not a professional bread baker, but love to learn and perfect every little technique every time I bake bread. Here’re a few important things that I’d like to share with you guys after making many loaves of bread and trying many different milk bread recipes.
A Perfect Japanese Milk Bread
- The texture is soft, fluffy, lightly sweet and chewy on the inside and crusty on the outside.
- Use a bread knife to cut a slice. the bottom shouldn’t be too dense. The bread has thin layers when you tear it apart.
- The top corners should be rounded with lighter colors. This is a good indicator of properly risen bread.
Volume Rate
To make the bread light and fluffy, the weight of the dough for the right size of pan MATTERS! The common volume rate for Japanese white bread is between 3.8 and 4.2, meaning that the average ratio of the dough-to-pan volume is 1 to 3.8~4.2.
There’s an easy method to figure out. Use a measuring cup filled with water and pour into the loaf pan. The total milliliter of the pan equals how many grams of water it can hold. If the bread pan can hold 2200 grams of water, and the dough-to-pan ration is 4, the dough should weigh 800 grams.
After you figure out the weight of the dough, use baker’s percentage to calculate each ingredient based on the percentage provided in the recipe below. For your convenience, I’ve calculated the ingredients in grams for both sizes of the Pullman loaf pans.
Bread Pans
Bread pans come in different sizes. I’ve used the regular bread pan to make the milk bread and didn’t like the thick crust. But I’ve rarely come across a Japanese recipe that uses this type of pan. So I never used it again.
The nonstick Pullman bread pan is my favorite so far. I only greased the pan a couple times and never have to do it again. It comes in two sizes. In the recipe below, I’ve included the measurement of ingredients for both sizes.
Windowpane Test
When kneading the dough, it’s very important to do several windowpane tests to check if the dough is elastic and the gluten is fully developed. You’ll also notice the dough’s surface is much smoother when it’s almost done. The elastic dough makes the bread soft, fluffy, and slightly chewy which is what we are looking for. What you need to do is taking a small piece of the dough and gently stretch it out. If the dough is translucent and doesn’t break apart easily, that means the dough is ready for bulk fermentation.
Desired Dough Temperature
The desired dough temperature for Japanese white bread specifically is between 79 – 82 F / 26-28 C. The only ways you can control the temperature of the dough are by adjusting the temperature of the room and the liquid temperature. If you don’t have heat or air conditioning to control room temperature, make sure to use cold water in hot weather, warm water in cold weather, and try to knead the dough and fully develop gluten as quickly as you can because the longer you knead the dough, the higher temperature it gets. That’s why we add butter later in the process and increase the mixing speed once all the ingredients are well-incorporated.
Bulk Fermentation and Proofing
Fermentation and proofing are sometimes used interchangeably. But it’s important to know that proofing refers to final rise after going through bulk fermentation and shaping. Usually, the temperature for final proofing is higher than bulk fermentation.
At first, I thought they were the same thing. My oven has a proofing function so I thought that it could be used for the first bulk fermentation. The bread turned out crumbly and dry. The temperature of the proofing function was 122 F / 50 C! Way too high for first fermentation.
If you’re serious about bread making, I highly recommend getting a proofer that allows you to adjust temperature for fermentation and final proofing. It’ll give you consistent and desired results every time. I just recently bought this Brod and Taylor proofer and absolutely LOVE it and am very happy with the results! It has the ability to accurately control the temperature and I use it for making yeast breads, yogurt, and cultured butter. It can be switched to slow cook too. It comes with a tray to increase humidity (between 60-80%).
Humidity Level
Humidity keeps the dough pliable so it can expand as the yeast releases carbon dioxide causing the dough to rise. Therefore, the water content in the dough, temperatures and relative humidity levels affect how it ferments. The relative humidity level should be at least 75 percent for most dough. At home, we often cover the dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap that helps keep the dough moist, but it doesn’t change the humidity level. So to do this at home, I often put a bowl of boiling water in the proofer or oven with the dough uncovered. It’s not perfect, but a good alternative.
Finger Dent Test
While the recipes generally provide a specific time for fermentation, it’s important to do a quick finger dent test to see if the dough has fermented enough to develop flavors. If the dough is over fermented, it would start to collapse and lose optimum volume.
To do the test, press a finger into the dough. If the dent springs back slowly and partially, the dough is perfectly fermented and ready for shaping. If it completely springs back, it’s not fully fermented and needs more time. If the hole stays unchanged, it’s over-proofed.
Shaping Methods
Japanese plain white bread is known for its unique shaping methods. In the US and other western countries, the standard way is to shape the dough into a big spiral and placed into the pan. In Japan and other Asian countries, the following three methods are commonly used to create a fine and orderly structure and beautiful thin layers.
Multiple Spirals
This is the most popular and common method. It’s great for both square and mountaintop shapes. If you are a beginner, I recommend using this method before trying the other two. I’ve made a video for whole wheat milk bread before using this shaping method if you want to learn more.
U Shape
This shaping method is ideal for sandwiches. The gluten is organized in one direction. So the sliced bread becomes more elastic than the spiral shaping method when it’s used for sandwiches. It can hold the food very well without breaking through easily. In the video, I demonstrated this shaping method.
Round Shape
This is the quickest, yet more advanced method compared to the spiral and U shape because you don’t use a rolling pin to squeeze out the air and shape the dough. It’s commonly shaped for mountaintop bread.
Failed Examples
If you make bread long enough, there’re just so many factors that could affect the outcome. The three key factors are time, temperature and weight. I’ve mentioned some of these above. Here’re a few of examples of the bread that I made in the past. I hope this gives you some ideas to troubleshoot your bread.
Bread Maker and Stand Mixer
I use both the Panasonic bread maker and the KitchenAid stand mixer for making this milk bread interchangeably. So far I couldn’t tell the differences between them in terms of texture and flavor. I use the bread maker if I want to do other things while kneading the dough. I DO NOT recommend using the bread maker to make this milk bread from start to finish for two reasons:
- You have to divide and shape the dough to create an orderly structure.
- The crust would be too thick after baking the bread in a bread maker.
